For every rule there's always an exception, and if Shanghai's Museum of Contemporary Art was going to break away from its mould and show its first-ever exhibition based solely around one designer - let alone dedicate all two floors to it - there was always going to have to be a pretty incredible name attached.
In what is a fashion and art voyeur's dream, 'Culture Chanel' delves into the world of Mademoiselle Chanel's ceative universe, pulling together Chanel designs through time, and connecting these dots to an extravaganza of the founder's artistic and literary influences in the process.
By bringing together works that span a century from some of the world's most important artists, the exhibition aims to go beyond the lines of fashion design, and looks to give visitors a taste of the artistic style and creative activities over multiple time periods that contributed to the identity and culture of Chanel today.
Curated by Jean-Louis Froment, there is a deliberate move away from the traditional chronological flow - instead things take on a methodical format through the five themes of 'Origin', 'Abstraction', 'Invisibility', 'Liberty' and 'Imaginary' in the MOCA space.
Not to be missed, is the intriguing and clever inter-locking of Chanel's designs, artworks, manuscripts and films, with a meaty backup of more than 400 painstakingly collated pieces of work, 100 of which have been borrowed from national museums and private collections for the occasion.
The exhibition is taking place at Shanghai’s Museum of Contemporary Art until mid-March 2011
From left: Original ’Cométe’ brooch, created by Gabrielle Chanel for her exhibition ’Bijoux de Diamants’, 1932, © Photo Didier Roy
Pen and ink image taken from pavement of the abbey of Aubazine, the orphanage where Gabrielle Chanel lived, 1996, © Alexandre Céalac
1965 - 1980 Haute Couture collection, © Photo Olivier Saillant
Courtesy: Collection Chanel, Paris
From left: Half-Length portrait of Catherine de’ Medici, by Francois Clouet, 16th century, © RMN (Domaine de Chantilly) / René-Gabriel Ojéda
Gabrielle Chanel with a white collaret by George Hoyningen-Huene, 1939, © Horst
Carmen Kass wearing an outfit from Chanel’s 2009 Autumn/Winter ready-to-Wear collection, by Dusan Reljin, © Dusan Reljin
From Left: Costume design for Potiphar’s wife in ’Joseph’s Legend’ by Léon Bakst, 1914, © Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Theater and Dance Collection, don de Madame Adolph B. Spreckels
Gabrielle Chanel in front of the Coromandel screens of her apartment at 31 rue Cambon, Paris by Boris Lipnitzki, 1937, © Lipnitzki/Roger-Viollet
The ‘Coromandel’ coat by Karl Lagerfeld for the 1996 Autumn/Winter Chanel Haute Couture collection, © Photo Karl Lagerfeld
From Left: Portrait of Gabrielle Chanel with her dog, Gigot, at her villa ‘La Pausa’, in Roquebrune, France, circa 1930, from Collection Chanel, Paris, © D.R
’Acrobats’ by Pablo Picasso, 1905, © Collection Marina Picasso/Courtesy Galerie Jan Krugier & Cie, Genève (Suisse)/Succession, Picasso 2010
Barbara Palvin wearing an outfit from CHANEL’s 2010 Spring/Summer Ready-to-Wear collection by Martin Lidell, © D.R
From Left: Marcel Proust in the garden of Reynaldo Hahn, Photographe Inconnu, 1905, © Snark/Art Resource, NY
‘The Lady of the Camellias’ printed book, Alexandre Dumas Fils, 1858, © Musée de la Dame aux Camélias
Amber Valletta wearing an outfit from Chanel’s 1995 Autumn/Winter Ready-to-Wear collection
From Left: Gabrielle Chanel leaning against a fireplace in her apartment, photo by Cecil Beaton, 1965, © Beaton/Vogue/Condé Nast Archive
Ear of Wheat by Salvador Dali, 1947, © Salvador Dali, Fondation Gala-Salvador Dali, ADAGP, Paris 2010
Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel’s 2010 Spring/Summer Ready-to-Wear collection
From Left: Cover project for the exhibition catalogue of 1921 by Alexander Rodchenko, © A. Rodchenko & V. Stepanova archive/ADAGP Paris 2010
Bottle of Chanel N°5 perfume, from Collection Chanel, Paris
‘The Five Fingers’ musical score by Igor Stravinsky, 1921, from Collection Chanel, Paris, © Copyright 1922 Chester Music Ltd worldwide
From Left: Vogue Paris, 1 November 1926, © Courtesy Vogue Paris
’Figure’ by Pablo Picasso, Avignon, © Marina Picasso Collection, courtesy Galerie Jan Krugier & Cie, Geneva / Succession Picasso 2010
Honor Fraser wearing a dress from Chanel’s 1996 Autumn/Winter Ready-to-Wear collection
From Left: Head of ‘La Bernardine’, 15th/16th century sculpture, © Région Limousin. Service de l’Inventaire et du Patrimoine Culturel/Philippe Rivière. Ville de Brive-la-Gaillarde – Musée Labenche d’art et d’histoire
Bianca Balti wearing an outfit from Chanel’s 2010 Spring/Summer Ready-to-Wear collection
Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, 1990 Autumn/Winter Haute Couture collection, © Photo Olivier Saillant
Portrait of ‘Culture Chanel’ curator Jean-Louis Froment, © D.R
From the ‘Paris/Shanghai’ Métiers d’Art show 2009, by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel
The exterior of MOCA, Shanghai
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Gate No. 7, People's Park
231 Nanjing West Road
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China
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